/r/titleix
A forum for student sexual assault survivors and activists
The purpose of this forum is to facilitate communication, and spread information, about:
- laws and other mechanisms;
- organizations and specialists;
- sharing of experiences about on-campus hearings, university grievance policies and procedures, and behaviors/acts by university administrators, faculty and staff;
in order to:
- help student survivors of sexual assault make informed decisions on their path to recovery;
- empower activists with information on how to make campuses safer.
To whom is this addressed:
- student survivors of sexual assault and their friends, support systems, and communities;
- activists, advocates, other supporters/facilitators.
Title IX and it's related statutes are applicable in the United States only.
Clarification regarding content /r/TitleIX should be used for:
- seeking information about on-campus grievance procedures, civil rights under Title IX, avenues for legal help, organizations and resources that help activists and survivors, sharing of personal experiences after reporting a sexual assault to campus public safety or local police**
- this is a safe space, with restricted participation and restricted content; use of trigger warnings is mandatory;
Self-posts and outside articles can be posted regarding:
- legal resources regarding Title IX and on-campus hearings;
- contact information for organizations and advocates who specialize in Title IX;
- news on programs and activism initiatives
- news related to laws & sexual assault on campuses;
- sharing of relevant experiences of using such mechanisms for redress;
Outside recommendations:
- dedicated to educating and supporting people in regards to ALL forms of Unwanted Sexual Experiences or Sexual Violence.
- for sharing stories about one’s sexual assault, discussion of details about the physical or emotional effects of sexual assault
Neither /r/TitleIX nor /r/TitleIXOpenForum are intended for private attorneys to advertise their services. If a private attorney advertises their services on /r/TitleIX, it will be removed and reported to their local bar association as a breach of professional ethics.
/r/titleix
Dylan Cale Raped me and I reported it to Marist and they have yet to do anything. So much for title 9
The school has done some very shady things. I can't give too much information. Has anyone had a child go through the title 9 investigation against another child? I wanna know what questions they'll ask my child and also should I allow them to speak with them?
Hello -- my name is Sarah Silberman, I am a Criminology and Criminal Justice Doctoral Candidate at the University of Maryland who researches sexual violence, and I am currently recruiting for an interview study on sexual misconduct in academia. For IRB approval, please see see my department page here. The goal of this study is to better understand the impact of academic sexual misconduct on graduate students in the greater-DC area. This study is seeking diverse voices on this topic.
If you or someone you know who experienced academic sexual misconduct:
as a graduate student
in the greater-DC area
between 2011 and now and
is interested in participating in a 1.5 - 2 hour interview, please fill out the interest form here: tinyurl.com/asmneardc
Please feel free to share with your current and former academic colleagues or email me if you have any questions
Hi all,
I've filed a complaint through my university (UNL) about being stalked by my ex-boyfriend. Since the stalking didn't happen on campus it is being investigated through student code of conduct instead of Title IX, but they said the hearing process is largely the same.
The investigator told me they are doing one final interview and then will be sending the report to the Title IX coordinator very soon (the Title IX and student code of conduct seem to have overlapping staff, I don't understand what difference there is here honestly). Then both I and him will have an opportunity to respond to the report and a hearing will be scheduled within 30 days of the report.
I have taken out a protection order against him and had a hearing when he requested to challenge it, which I won. I'm still really nervous about this though. I have no idea what the hearing is going to look like, or what I'm supposed to say in my response to the report. If anyone has any advice, or would be comfortable just recounting the experience of what the process of their hearing looked like, I would really appreciate hearing it.
The victim advocate at my school has told me not to get my hopes up too high even if my case outcome is successful. Stalking is a relatively minor sex crime compared to the other things they investigate, and the university has a general tendency to give offenders the least harsh punishment they can get away with (like training and apology letters). I still want to give it a shot and at least give him some stress about it, so he's less likely to stalk other girls.
Sorry if this posted twice, something happened to my original post and it seems to have been deleted.
Should I go thru with my report?
My (21) ex-boyfriend (22) (at the time this occured we were 20 and 21) used to pressure me to do sexual acts and sometimes do them both without affirmative consent or while I was incapacitated. We dated for around 6 months (total, non-consecutive) and this started during one of the times we had gotten back together, it was fairly early on and we had never done or discussed anything sec related beforehand and we had barely even kissed. We were at my apartment when he initiated a makeout and I don't remember being for or against it, just kind of "it is what is" mindset and went along with it. During this he began groping my upper body and butt withour asking before and eventually stuck his hand down my pants and into my vagina. During all of this he never asked before doing so and I never consented besides just letting it happen because I didn't have any feelings regarding it outside of just being there. He eventually stopped because I started my period and made him get off of me. For the next couple of months he would ask me for "favors" (blowjobs or handjobs) and I would feel pressured to do so because we were dating. We would be sitting in my living room watching a movie or eating dinner and he would just stop and turn to me and go "can we go to your room?" and I knew what that meant but I didn't say no or yes out loud, I would just get up and follow him. On a few occasions I would just make up and excuse and say I was tired or didn't want to and he would get kind of disappointed and grumpy before going to jerk off in the bathroom. It always made me feel bad after like I had done something wrong for turning him down. During the occasion in which I would just submit to doing so because I couldnt think of an excuse in time he would once again grope my body parts (breasts, butt, vagina) without asking or warning and doing so just because it gave him more sexual gratification. Additionally, during times when he slept over at my apartment I would wake up in the morning often because he was grinding on me while I slept, if I stirred but didn't wake up he would just keep going until I woke up, he would then proceed to try to makeout with me presumably hoping it would lead to sex. He never initiated a discussion about sex with me with the exception of one time when he caught me off guard while we were having dinner by going "when are we gonna have sex" I was uncomfortable and taken aback and so I offhandedly responded "when you take me out on a really good date". In the following weeks he hurried to plan a date that he took me on (it sucked) but I still did not have sex with him because he made me uncomfortable with his behavior and at this point I was thinking about breaking up with him (I stayed for about one more month after this that was a month full of pressured sexual acts and unwanted groping) Eventually, at somepoint during all this I became so anxious and afraid of hanging out with him because I knew that he would try to initiate more sexual acts that I just started limiting when he could come over to my apartment by saying I had work the next day or wanted alone time. This behavior lasted up until the day we broke up (he asked me to blow him the night before and I made him go jerk off in the bathroom and we broke up the next morning). All this to say every since we broke up I think about this everyday, I am scared of new relationships because I fear they won't respect my boundaries or do what he did to me. As a result I didnt know what to do besides report my ex to the Title IX office at my school. I just received a reply to my original report that they want to conduct an intake interview to see if they can open up an investigation. However, now that its getting serious I cant help but feel like I am overracting. I know that there are worse things he could have done to me and I never said no, and I even agree to do it sometimes, albeit reluctantly. Im worried that I am overracting over something I can just stop thinking about and that doing this intake would waste peoples time over something that isnt even definitive. I dont even know what I want the outcome to be because I dont feel comfortable enough to do therapy or access support resources about this but I just want him to know he did something wrong and for him not to be able to do it to other girls (and I also know I got the "good" end of things because I know for a fact that he has sexually assaulted two other girls after dating me so it feels wrong to be so affected by this when those girls were more harmed). Can someone offer me advice on how to procceed? Is this too minor of a situation to waste Title IX office's resources on? What should I do?
My daughter is in junior high and runs CC. Yesterday when handing out team uniforms they ran out of girls shorts. As a result my daughter was one of the girls the coach said needs to wear boy shorts (that’s all they have left). I’ve emailed the coach and offered to donate $100 towards getting the remaining girls the proper shorts. He said he may make an exception and allow the girls who were given boy shorts to wear their own shorts as long as they look similar to the actual uniform shorts.
My question is does Title IX protect my daughter from being forced to wear boy shorts? I highly doubt if the genders were reversed the coach would tell a boy he has to wear girl shorts. Thank you.
I shouldn't have waited this long but I was feeling discouraged after seeking help from numerous resources that led to dead ends.
My deadline for submitting materials for pre-hearing meeting is tomorrow to 'discuss the scope of the meeting'.
I received some information on this, but ultimately I still feel completely lost. Am I allowed to request them to review parts of the investigative report and leave out others? I stupidly didn't read the copy of the police report before submitting it for the original investigation and they blatantly lied on it, and some of the information they stated is clearly disagreeing with things both me and the respondent said. Other things just disagree with me.
I basically wanted to just submit that I want the investigative report to be reviewed along with some witnesses, who were also interviewed in the original report. I am not sure what they mean by "defining the scope of the hearing". How specific do I have to be? Also, I pulled a copy of my medical records that has my weight from two days after the assault, which could help prove by BAC, should I include this?
I know any answers to this will not serve as legal advice, I'm just overwhelmed and lost. And fucking tired. Sorry for the disorganized thoughts. Thank you in advance.
To sum it up, I was the victim of a sex crime my senior year of high school (I graduated in May). This event happened in January and it was very traumatic. An important thing to note is that it was done by a student that was fairly popular with the school (top 10 gpa, very active in scholarly and theater community at my school, very charismatic and loved by all his teachers etc). I confided in a teacher that I trusted and had a good relationship with. At first she believed me and was very supportive, even suggesting I go to the police. Of course as a mandated reporter she had to bring what I said to the counseling office and was very transparent about it, but again she was very supportive at first. We will call her Teacher A. A couple weeks later I was hospitalized for suicidality as a result of the trauma of the assault. By the time I had come back, my assaulter had spoken to Teacher A. I don't know or remember exactly what she said, but I know she told him some kind of personal information about me - I think it was how I was doing since I was hospitalized and also a bit of what I told her. Neither of those are ok and the next time I talked to her I told her that giving such information to the man that sa'd me puts me in a very unsafe decision. She then went on to say "I don't think it was sexual assault, because he's traumatized too" even though a. he wasn't, he's just a master manipulator, and b. even if it was, it doesn't change what happened. I was astounded she would say this to my face and stopped talking to her after. Throughout the year, he'd pop up in a class I knew he wasn't enrolled in (but I was) and he'd seemingly follow me around at school. He would threaten to other people (especially aforementioned teacher) to report me for gossip and bullying. All I was doing at this point was talking about what had happened. I reported him for it, and push for a school no contact order, which I got. This is important later. A few months later, my friends and I are all still traumatized from the situation. Teacher A tells one of them we "need to move on" when one of those friends talks about it. I reported her to the school, they said they'd do something and we would all have a meeting, but that never happened and it was swept under the rug and never talked about again. I made a vague post on my social media in May. This was my own private social media not affiliated with the school. I said something along these lines: "I like that the orchestra is playing my piece but I hate that my assaulter is 1st cello on it." I didn't even say his name. His friend ( I didn't even realize was following me because I thought I blocked all of his friends but I guess I missed one) blows up at me on social media, calling me a "f*cking liar", saying I'm making all victims of SA look bad, etc. I blocked him. The school contacts my mom a few days before graduation, saying I "violated" the no contact order by what I posted. Which doesn't make sense, because it wasn't affiliated with my school, and more importantly, my assaulter was blocked on everything so I didn't contact him. Am I not allowed to speak about what happened? They threatened that I wouldn't walk at graduation (this is recorded in a voicemail) even though assaulter was not only walking, but giving a speech at graduation and faced zero consequence for anything. Keep in mind, at this point he was actively being investigated by law enforcement for what he did to me. When I met with the school admin, the woman I spoke to said "it sounds like you've gone back and forth with each other all year." I said, "no, I was sexually assaulted by him." She said "well, that's kind of like going back and forth" or something along those lines, and proceeded to lecture me about "being careful what I post on social media" and "being kind on social media." They made it out like I was cyberbullying him. And yet his friend suffered zero consequence for harassing me and accusing me of lying.
Sorry, everyone, that's totally a lot. But there was a lot I went through because of that school. This wasn't even all of it, just the big stuff. There were several other instances where I was reprimanded yet they did nothing about him and basically just favored him. It felt like I was the one on trial, not him. They also just failed to protect me from him in so many ways...law enforcement was better at that than the school. I have a criminal case against my assaulter, but I'm wondering what to do about my school. They did absolutely nothing. I didn't even know if there was a title ix officer to speak to. I don't know what to do or if it's even valid.
So I (21 F) had this professor last Spring and he was always very pervy. For reference he is probably 55-65 years old. The class ratio was about 18:2 (males to females). He always singled out me and the other girl making comments about us being pretty and about boyfriends, and just stuff he shouldn’t be saying. I know, I know, I should’ve done something about this sooner. Last spring was my first semester here after transferring so that is the last thing I wanted to do when I just got to a new college. Well low and behold I have to take another one of his classes, no one else teaches this class and it’s required for my degree. Yesterday was the first day of class. This time the ratio is about 17:3 (males to females). Once again day one he is making comments that just make me uncomfortable. In front of the whole class he said directly to me “….(something)…your pretty ass”. That was just the moment when I’ve decided I’ve had enough. I talked to my family and my boyfriend and all of them said it’s time I report it. I have heard a little about title IX but I just worry this may not be enough for them to do something about it. My plan now it’s to voice record the next class to get evidence of him saying something inappropriate. He is very buddy buddy with the chair of the department as well as other professors for my degree and he said “what happens in my class stays in my class” (literally on the first day in the spring). He has also mentioned students in the past have tired to get him in trouble but nothing came of it. I’m just so worried if I speak up and nothing comes of it then it could ruin my image/relationship with these other professors and the chair. I just don’t wanna be seen as a snitch, but I don’t think it’s fair that I’m made uncomfortable every day in the class when I’m just here to learn Anyone have any advice? Especially if you’ve dealt with Title IX?
I have a friend that attends a public university in Texas, and she was assaulted two days ago. I have been doing my best to comfort her and support her as best I can, but I did recommend that she report the assault as soon as possible. She said that she is not ready to file the report yet. How long does she have until the report will not be accepted or taken seriously?
WVU quite literally enforced disciplinary infractions on me for not being quiet. They also said I faked my SA. I posted about it on TikTok if anyone wants to listen to my story
Hi!
I have a semi complicated case but to simple it down, I had reported him to the police, title 9 and the conduct office at my school. He had hit me while I was hospitalized and it was witnessed by hospital staff. There was a order of protection filed but at the time I had a lawyer who told me that because he was young (he was 19) that the court wouldn’t do anything. Instead I was told to get a civil agreement in which he cannot enter where I reside, contact me or people close to me, and cannot be 500ft from me. For the code of conduct, they couldn’t do much but just told him to do community service for hitting me. Title 9 was a big trouble to go through the system. Almost took a whole year to even start the hearings. He had abused me and sexually assaulted me. It was really bad for my mental health and to keep things going fast, there was an agreement that he would leave the school after finishing the two classes needed to transfer out. It wasn’t much but I was tired and needed to just be left alone. From all of this, Ive been diagnosed with PTSD and had to catch up in school since being hospitalized repeatedly made me lose school a lot.
Now, its a new school year and I have just been informed he will be living in the same dorm as me. There will be absolutely no way for me to avoid him and he will have easy access to my dorm. He has in the past once gotten into my locked dorm without my permission. We have the agreements and a no contact order through the school. The school has copies of all these agreements as well. They also only gave me notice a few days before move in day and all other dorms are full. Placement for dorms was done in around May/April. I have also already moved in and stayed during the summer (for summer classes).
Im worried about everything right now. Im on treatment with a psychiatrist and therapist but I never expected this. I was finally getting better and have been living in this building for over a year. I already emailed them but my school is known for having a bad title 9 office. Is there anything I can do at all? Im honestly considering transferring schools but that would be super bad for my major, bad financially and too late in my studies.
Hi,
I'm working on a fiction novel, and one of the scenes takes place at an in-person Title IX hearing. I was wondering: what does the space physically look like at these in-person hearings? My hearing was during COVID-19, so it was over Zoom, so I'm not sure. But I need to know how the in-person ones look/feel/etc., so that I know how to describe it in my novel! The more details the better.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!
Some years ago, a Texas Tech University Professor very violently and sexually assaulted a student with autism. Some people were witnesses, and these witnesses stopped the Professor and provided first-aid. The witnesses were colleagues of the Professor and apparently did not report.
He sustained damage to testicles, liver, kidneys and a brain injury. People with autism are routinely abused, and they rarely report it.
We are going to report the assault to the Title IX office at the university. We will be asking the university to hire an outside law firm to investigate. We also contacted the DOE-OCR and they said they will investigate, should the university fail to conduct an objective investigation. Based on this, we may file a police report.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Using a throwaway: I was sexually assaulted a year and a half ago. I graduated this past May (though I'm still finishing a class so still in the school system), and he is going into his senior year. Can I still report what happened? Also, if I report it, will I need to get lawyers and go through a long process. I have an anxiety disorder and am really scared of legal chaos. I am just wanting to report this because it has been a weight on my shoulders, and then i'd like to move on afterwards. Please let me know what you think.
I have this intense fear that he is going to accuse me of lying and sue me or something. Please let me know what you think and thanks so much.
This Friday, I will be a witness in title ix court for a girl I barely know. She had a situation involving an ex of mine who has been causing trouble for years. I have been asked to speak to my experiences with him over the past two years and I’m a bit terrified. I’ve spoken plenty about my experiences, but he will be in attendance and I’ve never talked about it in front of him. I will also be cross examined which is terrifying me. I know my experience is real, but he is a habitual liar and I don’t know what he may have told them.
I guess I’m looking for anyone’s experiences with title ix court or any advice.
I (a member of college staff) was harassed by a student about to graduate. However, my college's Title IX coordinator isn't sure if this case will go through, considering they weren't technically a student at the time of the incident. However, they enrolled in a course just days after the event. They have since dropped it... They were enrolled for about 2 days, 3 at most. I actually had to add to the report during their short enrollment period because they came back to my workplace after a no contact order had been communicated to me. So, that's an extra layer of effed up. I've done so much research. I've talked to my bosses. I've spoken to a counselor on campus. I've done all I can, yet the Title IX expert here is somehow stumped on whether I have a case or not... Thoughts? Help?
My daughter was attacked by someone she thought was a friend, who she later found out had sexually assaulted a number of other girls on Fredonia’s SUNY campus. She reported the assault 4 days later to student services and campus police. From there, the report sat in limbo in the Title IX's office for far too long, and when it was finally acted upon, it was riddled with spelling errors, omission errors and wrong information. She corrected this information and supplied the corrections back to the Title IX department. The Title IX took over 2 Months to respond to the complaint. Her complaint was taken seriously by the Kappa Sigma Fraternity, who to their credit convened a meeting right after classes restarted and kicked him out of the fraternity for this and many other complaints of violence against women.
The whole process has been described by our lawyers as a clown show. Even his lawyers were of the same mind.
Title IX folks railroaded right through witness reports, not allowing testimony, while allowing questionable testimony of the assaulter's witnesses, some of whom were not even attending school anymore, let alone on campus when the assault occurred. The hearing board said they were “not interested in credibility” when they shut down witnesses against the assaulter.
She has talked and communicated with many other young women on campus who have had similar things happen with this same serial assaulter. Luckily our daughters and sons talk among themselves, and they know who the creeps on campus are. They are good at offering support to help others deal with the problems on Fredonia SUNY campus, and any other women and men who have been assaulted on SUNY campuses.
Ok folks this is a long story but I’ll try to get to the point. In yall’s opinion is this a title ix violation?
I won’t be able to grab coffee today but here’s a rundown of what’s happening, sorry its really long…
A few weeks ago a fifth grade boy was chasing my daughter (we will call her H) at recess (she told him repeatedly to stop) and then ended up grabbing her butt-not an accidental touch, grabbed and squeezed. Two other boys saw it , confronted the boy and told the teachers. Admin called me and told me what happened and that he would have “consequences” and from what I can deduce he was suspended for a day and told to stay away from H.
Fast forward to last Thursday, I get a call that he was chasing her at recess again, she was asking him to stop, he didn’t. She tried to hide and then she says he grabbed her boob. Admin said they cannot confirm it as this time there were no witnesses and they couldn’t see it on the cameras. But since he had been told by admin to leave her alone and didn’t there would be “escalating consequences” I was at a doctors appointment with my son so at this point I just said ok and hung up. But the more I thought about it the more pissed I got. This is not something that H would lie about and they have witnesses that saw him touching her inappropriately before so it’s not much of a stretch to think he’d do it again in my opinion.
Then at a fundraiser last Friday evening she was hanging out with her friends while I was with my son, so not with her, and he came up to her again tapped her on the back and made a “grabbing motion” with his hands at her chest when she turned around. Her friend yelled at him to get away and they ran into the girls bathroom (he chased them) I told admin they said it didn’t happen around at school so they can’t/won’t discipline for it.
Then on Monday this boy was chasing H again at recess she told him to stop several times, he didn’t. She warned him i had given my permission to defend herself if he tried to touch her again. She told me he tried to grab her crotch. She punched him and she got suspended for it. I have 2 kids saying they saw it but admin claims no one saw it and are basically saying my kid made it up the last two times.
I’m sorry, but the school has not kept her safe so she defended herself and I’m damn proud of her for it. This kid is still in school and their “safety plan” they enacted only after the THIRD time is just that they are supposed to stay on opposite sides of the playground for 15 min then switch. And staff will monitor (staff hasn’t monitored it this whole time obviously!!! So not much faith in that!) Oh also admin admitted they have him on video following my daughter to the girls bathroom and waiting “a really long time” for her to come out. Creepy!!!
Does this sound like a title ix violation? Or just sexual harassment?
Recently, my job had an issue with their title IX office. There is an issue of mistrust and needing to work towards restorative practices. If any of you have experienced an incident like this, what did your school do to work towards rebuilding trust? Or you, as a victim, what would you like to see your university do to rebuild that trust?
If helpful, this happened with a Columbia Uni student. Thanks.
TL;DR: Title IX coordinator is a victim blaming jerk and I don't feel safe working with him. Told "tough luck, he's the boss". Who do I complain to?
I'm currently in the investigative process for Title IX at my university. The process has been retraumatizing, not because of having to retelling my story over and over again, but because my story keeps getting intentionally misrepresented by the office. I've received the same victim blaming, minimizing, and mindfuckery I got from the respondent for months. I have been punished for telling classmates about the assault, meanwhile he was allowed to be emotionally abusive in the informal hearing and that went unchecked.
I don't feel safe working with the Title IX Coordinator anymore. I was nervous about it at first because he's a man and I am a woman so I already felt like I had to accept an uncomfortable situation (which parallels how the assault occurred, I didn't want to share a hotel room with a man, the school was basically like, "well tough luck" and I accepted it instead of pushing back). He isn't the only one who's been hurtful, but he's the main one I'm working with. He has said and done too many things similar to my abuser, he has refused to correct his summary of my statement when I pointed out inaccuracies, only doubling down and getting defensive about it. Like, you weren't there buddy. I was. I think I might know a bit more about what I agreed to do than you do. Unfortunately, I was told that this Title IX Coordinator is the boss and I'm probably not going to have another option for someone to work with. I can't work with him, not just for my own well-being, but I also have no respect for this man now and don't think I can hold my tongue in meetings with him anymore.
I don't want another person to have to go through what I'm going through in this investigation. No one should be victim blamed and retraumatized by their university's Title IX Coordinator. We should come through this process reassured that our campus is a safe place and the officials have our backs in keeping it a safe place. Instead, they want to rug sweep and keep a good face. Not by expelling rapists, but by making victims feel bad for coming forward and making noise.
So my question is, who do I go to to complain? This guy might be head of the university's Title IX department, but he's not the head of the university. Someone hired him, and someone has the power to fire him. How do I figure out who that person is? Should I also complain to the state's Title IX Coordinator and/or the OCR?
Hey, just out of curiosity, a MAJOR college near me has an uneven amount of men's and women's sports, with an 8:11 ratio, what are the laws on this and how does it work. Is this allowed, and if not, how long do they have to add more to balance it out?
I (male in his 20s) was r*ped by a college professor (female in her 50s) last spring semester. Essentially, I needed help on an assignment for her class. She invited me to a hotel because she stated that her office hours would not be happening. I went to the hotel. She came out in a bath robe, and started getting flirty with me. I brushed it off and wanted to keep it professional. She offered me lemonade to drink. I initially did not want to impose, but after she kept insisting, I did not want to be rude, so I drank it. I started feeling dizzy, and I fainted. I woke up and was tied down with ducked tape completely naked. My professor then started having anal and oral s*x with me. I was dozed out, and I was fearful for my life. I am African American, so she pretended that I was a slave, and she pretended to be my slave master. She then whipped me several times while I was tied down. I kept begging her to stop. I had tears running down my face. She then took a knife and started cutting me in my thighs. Then, she let me go. I just ran away back to my dorm. When I took a shower, my cuts burned. I felt traumatized. I could not concentrate. I used to regularly go to office hours, but after I explained this situation to one of my professors, he told me that I should not complain because the professor who r*ped me was tenured. After that conversation, he distanced himself from me, and when I went to office hours for three of my classes, the TA's started distancing themselves from me. One TA told me that he did not feel comfortable interacting with me. I had to withdraw with a W from three of my classes that semester. I did not drop the one with the professor who r*ped me because if I did, she threatened to file an academic integrity case against me.
Fast forward to the end of the semester. She asked me to be her boy toy after presentations. I told her that I did not want to do anything unprofessional. She filed several academic integrity cases against me. I lost one of them because the person handling it asked me uncomfortable questions about my assault, and when I refused to answer them, the found me responsible. As I was dealing with the aftermath of my assault, I took a summer course online. While taking that course, I made several suicide attempts, and I consequently failed that course. I got therapy for it.
Then come fall semester, I was working on my fall classes. Then, after October 7, people started discriminating against Jewish students after the who Israel fiasco. When student found out I was Jewish, a few of them broke into my dorm room and beat me. The took my electronics. Then, one of them was gay, and he r*ped me while others pinned me down. They did this on several different days throughout the fall semester. Then, they would graffiti on my room walls. They drew swastikas and wrote the n word. They would follow me into my classes. In the classes, they would do things like put their hands in my pants. They would pinch me. Then, afterwards, when I would leave, if I walked into a restroom or private location, they would follow me and beat me and SA me. I have made several attempts to take my own life. As a result, I failed all my classes for the fall semester.
I have been doing research on what I can do, and I came across this pdf: https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Supportive-Measures-FAQ-K12-vF.pdf
Are the Title IX coordinators required to do something about my failing grades? Are they required to expunge my W's and allow me to redo assignments and exams for classes I failed? Are they required to recalculate my final grades for classes I failed so that any assignments affected by my SA are omitted from the calculation of my final grade? For example, if I failed a final exam, are they required to remove that from the calculation of my final grade and recalculate my grade to omit that exam?
I just want input from a title ix coordinator. Can a title ix coordinator at a university please help advise me?
The people I've told about the whole incident are mostly friends from my hometown as they were the ones I trusted most at the time. Can they be witnesses?
also will their interviews be in person or can they be done over the phone because many of my friends cant travel to where i am.
Could people give their opinion about this? I am thinking about potentially taking legal action against my university for negligence and emotional distress.. for something that happened to me my freshman first semester in the fall of 2022. The months of fall semester ultimately sent me into a mental health spiral that has affected all aspects of my life both mentally and academically. I'm copying and pasting a speech I gave at a protest below:
"College move-in’s are not supposed to be a nightmare. you might get a weird neighbor, but no one should ever have to deal with what I was given. My entire first semester was a hell on earth– I hardly slept and I dealt with various mental health issues, all because XYZ University did nothing to help my situation
The person in the single dorm beside me sexually harassed me from August to December. He stalked my instagram, stalked my boyfriend, only remembered my name out of everyone on the floor, routinely gave me compliments, woke us up at 5am to talk, and entered my room when I wasn’t there. There are a lot of other instances I had to deal with but through all of my first semester of college, my experiences brought back trauma of past sexual assault and I sank deeper and deeper into my depression and anxiety attacks.
In late September, I emailed my school's Title IX department asking for help after being referred to them by my RA. I met with an officer a week later and told them my story and how my mental health was suffering and how I wanted him to be removed from his room.
They told me “we cannot move someone against their will” yet he was forcing me against my will. I learned the hard way that ironically, the victim has no power in any of these situations because they are not able to enable someone to partake in discussion.
A follow-up email from them stated “Thank you for your confidentiality. We will follow up with an investigation. We will reach out to you within the next few days.” I received no such response. Soon, three weeks had passed and I concluded I had been ghosted by the Equity Office.
In late October, I had to meet with XXPD where they classified my experiences as sexual harassment and the case was forced into Title IX’s hands again. Over the span of the week of Halloween and the week after that, I met with my Community Director, Title IX, and the Dean of Students where I had to repeat my story over and over again only to hear “I’m sorry this is happening to you, there are resources to help you, but we cannot follow through with a no contact order because he has not physically assaulted you nor can we change your room because that is not our department”. (This decision by XXUniversity's Title IX office violates both federal and University Title IX law specifically section III-J-6, which states that stalking qualifies under Title IX’s definition of sexual harassment. The section does not state that physical assault is required to qualify as stalking.) Imagine federally lying to someone in tears. I thought over and over that I just wanted him to touch me to get it over with.
In the beginning of October, I tried to move rooms. My RA emailed my community director but I received no response from him. this was supposed to be an emergency yet when I talked to him, he shrugged it off and weakly apologized to me. I felt so alone and disrespected by the people that were supposed to help me. I was already sleeping in a different room and AU knew about this and still did not expedite my room change because they do not care about their students.
It took almost a month to get a room change, and it was of my own doing. I spoke with my Community Director at least three times and was told “I have no idea what is happening because Title IX has taken control of your housing case” the literal operator of my dorm could not help me because he was not privy to any of Title IX and I’s housing conversations. Yet on top of this, Title IX told me to reach out to the Housing Department asking for updates because they had “no idea” what was taking so long– so I was lied to and told multiple different things and therefore left in the dark.
I then emailed the Director of Housing Assignments begging for a room change. He was the first person to give me a clear answer out of all of Title IX, my Community Director, and the literal Dean of Students. He wrote that I could move rooms the following week. This was October 28th, and I moved rooms November 1st. I had been in conversation about a room change since the first week of October. I am the reason I got what I wanted, not Title IX, not Administration, and not the Dean of Students.
My assaulter is neurodivergent and XYZ University knew this about him. Yet they did not deal with the situation with Neurodiversity in mind. He still bothered me until the middle of November, when I finally told him to leave me alone and never speak to me again."
I am mostly relying on the violation of my university's no-contact order policy, as my harasser did stalk me on all of my socials as well as my s/o and friends in attempt to find information and pictures of me. I'm not sure if this is enough, but this situation has caused me so much pain that I might as well try.. right?
Thank you
some dumb b decided that she would hit me twice.
Her name is _____ _______
Such a nice school like Rice University most definitely has the recording and surveillance equipment to have mitigated that threat to society.
The school chose to have me roofied and raped instead after I supplied evidence of harassment.
I will never be silenced. I haven’t signed a non disclosure agreement or received a settlement for damages. I mean what did they expect?
I want to understand the legal obligations of school staff to act in response to sexual assault/harassment in high school regarding student offenders. My understanding is that Title IX's language is vague enough that it merely compels staff to "act" to end the harassment/hostile environment but leaves a very open ended interpretation available to schools. As in, there is no obligation to act or punish behavior from offending students.
I experienced a period of prolonged harassment by a student that culminated in what would legally be defined as aggravated sexual assault. The upper school principal had a brief talk with the student and told me that there was nothing more the school would pursue since the behavior had ended. It just puzzles me that they took so lightly something that could end up in jail time if I reported it to the police.